Medicinal marijuana in PH?
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- Written by Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care
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MANILA, Philippines – The head of the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) of the Department of Health on Wednesday defended the use of medical marijuana.
According to Annabelle Pabiona-De Guzman, PITAHC Director General, the government’s anti-drug campaign is focused on recreational marijuana. She noted that in using marijuana for medical purposes, only the oil of the cannabis seeds and not the leaves is used.
“The drug war is against the use of marijuana as a recreational drug but medical cannabis will be used for medical purposes and recreational drug it is the grass that you burn but in the the use of medical marijuana we use the oil from the seeds,” De Guzman told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
Cannabis oil, which contains the medically potent properties of the marijuana plant, can be administered orally using a medicine dropper or through a tablet or capsule forms.
De Guzman explained that medical marijuana can be used to alleviate severe pain from cancer and relieve epileptic seizures.
“I’d like to emphasize medical cannabis is the one gathered from the oil from the seeds so we do not use the leaves. It is from the oil from the leaves and the medical uses it can alleviate pain especially severe pain from cancer and other illnesses. It has also been proven to helping in seizures and epilepsy,” she said.
Last Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte is supporting the “controlled” and “regulated use of marijuana for medical purposes.”
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Grace Poe were also open to the legalization of medical marijuana. Lacson and Poe said they considered medical marijuana but raised concerns on its possible abuse.
A bill, the “Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act,” is also pending at the House of Representatives.
Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, principal author of the measure, cited studies that showed marijuana could be used to control epileptic seizures, pain management in multiple sclerosis and arthritis, treatment of symptoms associated with HIV-AIDS and palliative care in end-stage cancer.
Under the bill, the Department of Health will be the principal regulatory agency in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) while the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency will monitor and regulate the dispensation of medial marijuana in medical facilities.
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Long before the introduction of modern medicine, the Philippines has its own traditional medical practices that our ancestors have embraced and believed to be effective. And these have been passed to generation after generation.
And as modern medicine progresses to new heights, peoples of the world, on the other hand, have started recognizing the healing benefits of the ancient medical practices.
Despite the developments in western medicine, there is still a global movement towards the unfolding of the maximum potentials of the traditional and contemporary medicine (TCM). With this fact, different nations in Asia, which is home to many known TCMs have been actively in pursuit to influence more people to once again embrace the traditional way of healing.
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| "Dr. Isidro Sia, PITAHC Dir. Gen. Dr. Annabelle Pabiona De Guzman , Mr. Josue De Guia (healer from Bayombong) and Dr. Josephine Villafuerte during the ribbon cutting of the 1st Pista ng Paggagamutang Pilipino 2018.” |
To champion this cause, the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) together with Aralan ng Paggaamutang Pilipino, a group of advocates of traditional Filipino healers, at least 14 traditional healers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindano were gathered for the 1st Pista ng Paggamutang Pilipino 2018.
This historical event, paved the way for these traditional healers to share and showcase their skills, the 1st Pista ng Paggagamutang Pilipino 2018 was held at the Peoples Park in Davao City on Nov. 21, 2018.
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| "PITAHC executives and traditional healers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao pose for a photo op.” |
Pista ng Paggagamutang Pilipino 2018 provided a venue towards raising public awareness on the variety, breadth and scope of Philippine traditional medicine. Through the past millennia, more than 180 ethnolinguistic groups belonging to 110 indigenous communities have become established in the country. Such long periods of interacting with place-specific geological, climatological, biological and cultural diversity have endowed each group and community with its own unique health system.
PITAHC director general Dr. Annabelle Pabiona-De Guzman said that this 1st Pista ng Paggagamutang Pilipino 2018 is a milestone in the countrys recognition of not just the Filipino culture but the individual skills of healers who have been the backbone of many indigenous communities healthcare system.
The PITAHC is one with our traditional healers in cultivating their valuable skills and gifts, which have been passed to them by their great ancestors. We are pushing for the integration of traditional and contemporary medicine in our national healthcare system, thus, giving the Filipino people another healthcare option, Pabiona-De Guzman stressed.
The Pista 2018 was a two-part event. The morning session was a small group presentation and consultation with 14 traditional and indigenous healers, invited and flown in from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, as well as local healers from Davao City and its environs.
This session was spearheaded by the PITAHC National Committee for the Certification for Hilot and with participation by the academics and organizations engaged in traditional medicine research.
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ORMOC CITY – The Harmonised Initiatives of Media for the Spread of Good Nutrition in Region 8 (HIMSoG-8), the media-group partner of National Nutrition Council in Eastern Visayas, will coordinate first with the Mayor’s Office in local government units (LGUs) in its targeting for the Media-Nutrition Caravans for year 2019.
This came was consensus of the membership during a Program Implementation Review (PIR) of the group held on December 21, 2018 at the Sabin Resort Hotel, here. The one-day event headed by HIMSoG President Antonio Pueblos extended as well as 4th Quarter Meeting, 8th Anniversary and Christmas Party.
Every Year HIMSoG-8 conducts two Media-Nutrition Caravans to a chosen cluster of at least three localities in Region 8 that are noted for high incidence of malnutrition, and also with those outstanding good practices on nutrition program implementation. The caravan is a most favoured group activity, to first-hand seek out the rationale of the Nutrition Situation of the target locality--why it is lagging in health and nutrition. The practice is as well a measure to document the good practices of the localities which are doing well for other places to emulate.
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STUDIES and researches are now being done by the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) for the use of medicinal marijuana.
As medicinal marijuana had been proven abroad to have a good action against pain especially for patients with cancer, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease, PITAHC Director General Doctor Annabelle Pabiona-De Guzman said there is already a bill under study for the compassionate use of Cannabis in the Philippines.
She said they hope the bill can go through Congress but expects to have a complication or a problem when it reaches the Senate.
“We already have exploratory studies. The first study that we did was looking for patent. We found out that there are international patents already because in certain parts in the U.S. and some European countries it is already used for medicinal purposes. We cannot apply specific patent to the Philippines because what will be used will be the same as what is being used abroad,” said Pabiona-De Guzman during the Connect press forum yesterday at the SM Lanang Premier.
She added they have already partnered with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) and the Dangerous Drug Board (DDB) in coming with another study to document the use of marijuana as a recreational drug in the country.
The director general underscored that recreational marijuana is different from medicinal marijuana. The former uses burnt leaves and smokes it unlike medicinal marijuana which uses oil extracted from the plant seeds instead.
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For three consecutive years, VSU has registered a 100% passing rate in the Nursing Licensure Exam (NLE). This year, all ten takers successfully passed the nursing board.
As released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), only 4,811 out of the 12,033 examinees passed the exam, garnering a 39.98% national average.
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) produced the topnotcher for this year’s nursing board, Jennifer Jacob Quirante, with a passing average of 87.80%. On top of that, UST landed the prime spot in the top performing school’s list, garnering a 100% passing rate, with all of its 337 takers passing the board.
The November 2018 NLE was administered at PRC testing centers in Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Pagadian, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga on November 17 and 18, 2018.
